Christian church in the Early Middle Ages. History of the Christian Church

The official religion of the Roman Empire is Christianity under the reign of Constantine I the Great (272-337). In 313 he officially permits this religion on the territory of his country, issuing a decree equalizing Christianity in rights with other religions, and in 324 it becomes the official confession of the united Roman Empire. In 330, Constantine moved his capital to the city of Byzantium, which in his honor would be renamed Constantinople.

Time period of the Early Christian Church

In 325, the First Ecumenical Council was held in Nicaea (now the city of Iznik, Turkey) , at which the basic dogmas of Christianity were adopted, and thus the debate about the official religion ended. The early Christian church, or the apostolic age, also ends its existence at the Council of Nicaea. The initial date is considered to be the 30th years of the first century AD, when the nascent Christianity was considered a sect of the Jewish religion. The persecution of Christians began not with the Gentiles, but with the Jews. The first martyr of the Christian church, Archdeacon Stefan, was executed by Jews in the year 34.

The oppression of Christians and the end of persecution

The period of the early Christian church was the time of the oppression of Christians by all the emperors of the Roman Empire. The most difficult was "Diocletian persecution" that lasted from 302 to 311 years. This Roman ruler set out to completely destroy the nascent faith. Diocletian himself died in 305, but his heirs continued the bloody affair. The "Great Persecution" was legalized by a verdict issued in 303.

The history of the Christian church did not know much oppression - Christians were sacrificed by dozens, driving their families into the arena with lions. And although some scientists consider the number of victims of Diocletian baiting exaggerated, all the same, the figure called is impressive - 3,500 people. The tortured and exiled righteous were at times more. Constantine the Great put an end to ostracism and gave rise to the flourishing of one of the main religions of mankind. Having given Christianity a special status, Constantine provided this religion with rapid development. Byzantium first becomes the center of Christianity, and later the capital of Orthodoxy, in which, like in some other churches, this ruler is ranked among the saints of Equal-to-the-Apostles. Catholicism does not consider him a saint.

Relationship of times

Even the donations of the mother of Constantine, Empress Helena, were built churches. Under Constantine was laid the Temple of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople - a city named after the emperor. But the very first and beautiful is the Jerusalem church, which the Bible tells about. However, many of the first religious buildings were not preserved. The oldest Christian temple on earth, surviving to this day, is in the French city of Poitiers, the main population center of Vienne. This is the baptistery of John the Baptist, built in the IV century. That is, even before the history of the Early Middle Ages began, during which the construction of churches, temples and cathedrals became ubiquitous.

A busy historical period

It is commonly believed that the Early Middle Ages lasted 5 centuries, from the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 to the end of the 10th century. But some scholars consider the beginning of this first period of the Middle Ages exactly 313 year - the time of the termination of the persecution of the followers of the Christian religion.

The most difficult historical period, including the fall of the Roman Empire, the Great Migration of Nations, the emergence of Byzantium, the strengthening of Muslim influence, the invasion of the Arabs into Spain, fully relied on the Christian religion. The Church in the Early Middle Ages was the main political, cultural-educational and economic institution for many tribes and peoples inhabiting Europe. All schools were run by the church, monasteries were cultural and educational centers. In addition, already in the IV century all the monasteries were very rich and strong. However, the church not only sowed the reasonable, kind, eternal. The sharpest persecution was subjected to dissent. Pagan altars and temples were destroyed, heretics were destroyed physically.

Faith as a stronghold of the state

The Christian church experienced its first flourishing in the early Middle Ages, and by the end of the period it had surrendered somewhat. And later, in the following periods of the Middle Ages, a new upsurge of the Christian religion began. As early as the beginning of the fifth century, Ireland became one of the centers of Christianity. The Frankish state, which considerably expanded its territories under the Clovis of the Merovingians, adopted a new religion with it. In the fifth century, with this ruler, there were 250 monasteries on the territory of the Frankish state. The church becomes the most powerful organization with the full patronage of Clovis. The Christian church in the Early Middle Ages played a cementing role. The faithful flock was rallying at the direction of the church around the monarch, the country became much stronger and unapproachable to external enemies. For the same reasons, the new faith was accepted by other European countries. In the IX century, Russia was baptized. Christianity was gaining strength, it penetrated into Asia and upstream the Nile (the territory of modern Sudan).

Cruel methods

But for various reasons - both objective (gaining the power of Islam) and subjective (the time of the reign of the descendants of Clovis, nicknamed "lazy kings", disorganized the Frankish state) - Christianity temporarily surrendered its positions. For a short while the Arabs occupied part of the Iberian Peninsula. The papacy was greatly weakened. The Christian Church in the Early Middle Ages became the religious ideology of feudalism. Born in the days of antiquity, his Christianity survived at the cradle of feudalism, serving him with faith and truth, justified oppression and social inequality "the will of the Lord." In order to keep the masses in subjection, the church resorted to intimidation, especially the fears of the afterlife. Defiant people were declared servants of the devil, heretics, which later led to the creation of the Inquisition.

The positive role of the church

But the Christian church in the Early Middle Ages, whenever possible, smooths out social conflicts, disagreements and antagonisms. One of the main postulates of the church - before God all are equal. The church did not have open hostility to the peasants, who were the main labor of the feudal society. She called for mercy in relation to the dispossessed and oppressed. This was the official position of the church, even if sometimes hypocritical.

In the early Middle Ages, with almost complete illiteracy of the population, in the absence of any other means of communication, the church played the role of a communication center - here people converged, here they communicated and learned all the news.

Cruel planting of Christianity

The history of the Christian church, like any other great religion, is unusually rich. All masterpieces of art and literature for many centuries were created with the support of the church, for its needs and for its subjects. She also influenced the policy pursued by the states, some of the Crusades are worthwhile. True, they began in the XI century, but in the period from the 5th to the 10th centuries Christianity was not only implanted with persuasion and missionary or economic considerations. A very big role was played by weapons. Brutally suppressed by pagans during its inception, Christian faith very often, including during the conquest of the New World, was implanted with bayonets.

Page in the history of mankind

The whole history of the Middle Ages is full of wars. The Early Middle Ages, or the Early Feudal Period, was the time when feudalism was born and formed as a socio-political formation. By the end of the 10th century, feudalization of the lands was practically over. Despite the fact that synonyms for the term "feudalism" are often obscurantism and backwardness, in it, as in the churches of this period, there were positive features that contributed to the progressive development of society, which led to the emergence of the Renaissance.